Sam Brownback: The most callous governor in the Union

As much as possible, I try to ignore Kansas. It’s a dull disaster of a state, and Sam Brownback is unequivocally one of the worst administrators to ever inhabit in a governor’s mansion. (It’s a small miracle he was re-elected in 2014 — and he wouldn’t have if the Democratic nominee, Paul Davis of Lawrence, could have demonstrated he had a pulse.)

And yet I can’t entirely ignore the damn state. I live a block from State Line Road; I frequently shop at the Hy-Vee at 77th and State Line; we occasionally go to restaurants there; and, most important, a minor but valued part of my income hinges on secondary-education funding in Kansas.

After retiring from The Star in 2006, I enrolled in Avila’s teacher certification program, and since 2008 — when I got my certification — I’ve been a substitute teacher in the Shawnee Mission School District. I teach Language Arts, usually in high schools. It’s a great job, paying $135 a day. The assignments are handled by phone and computer, and I can make myself unavailable for any days or periods of time that I choose. The substitute coordinator doesn’t hold it against you if you make yourself unavailable for weeks at a time; she’s just glad to have you whenever you can jump in and fill a void.

As a result, when I read about each round of cutbacks in government funding in Kansas — the latest was yesterday — I cringe because I envision secondary education taking a big hit and SMSD subsequently announcing it is either cutting the number of subs or slicing their pay.

So, I was relieved when I read in today’s Star that the latest round of budget cuts hits higher education but not secondary. Too bad for the universities but, frankly, I’m more concerned about my extra piece of bacon at the breakfast table.

…But I’m not completely selfish. In the bigger picture, the most maddening thing, once again, is a new round of cuts for Medicaid funding. Those on Medicaid — the poorest Kansans — aren’t thinking about an extra piece of bacon; they’re worried how they’re going to get treatment for such things as pneumonia, flu and accidental injuries and how they’re going to get needed surgical procedures.

By refusing to expand Medicaid (of course Missouri did the same thing), Kansas has already turned its back on more than $1 billion in federal funding, and after yesterday’s cuts, Medicaid funding will be reduced by another $50 million or so. How that will trickle down is that doctors and hospitals will receive less on the front end, and then they will either refuse or not be able to treat as many Medicaid patients.

As former Kansas governor (and former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary) Kathleen Sebelius told The Star, “I think the result is likely to be that more doctors will just refuse to take Medicaid patients. In the long run I think it is a very shortsighted way to save money.”

Here’s Brownback yesterday, proudly signing the new budget bill involving $97 million in state spending cuts.

This fellow Brownback has got to be one of the cruelest, most callous people to ever run a government. He has simply decided, in effect, “to hell with the poor.” He figures they don’t vote (unfortunately he’s right), and they’re mostly out of sight and irrelevant. Brownback wants to lend a helping hand not to the poor but to those who run corporations, those who have proprietorships and LLC’s (like Kansas basketball coach Bill Self), and people who work as independent contractors. Yeah, the people who make a lot of money and can always use a little more and then might turn around and up their political contributions to the good Republicans who put a lot more bacon on their tables.

…One night back in the mid-2000s, when Sebelius was governor of Kansas and Matt Blunt (another stuffed-shirt Republican) was governor of Missouri, we saw Sebelius and her husband Gary at Knuckleheads Saloon in northeast Kansas City. There they were, out on the dance floor with us regular folks, laughing and drinking and dancing. Between songs, the band leader introduced Sebelius as “the good governor,” distinguishing her from Blunt. The line got a big laugh, and the crowd applauded her.

What are the chances, do you think, of seeing Brownback at Knuckleheads some night? And what do you think the crowd reaction would be if he did show up? I would hope the band leader would have the spunk to call him “the bad governor,” to distinguish him from Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who isn’t all that good, but at least isn’t the asshole Brownback is.

As a retired Illinois high school teacher (and now a resident of Kansas where my two grandchildren reside) and also a Shawnee Mission sub, I agree with and applaud you for telling the truth and standing up for those who will suffer most with the new budget cuts. Thanks, Linda

For the record, I’ve been at odds since the late 90’s when we got into it in person at a meeting out in Hays over the direction of the movement. I oppose both his LLC exemption and the push to a zero income tax in favor of relief from both Kansas’ regressive sales tax and even more regressive (and corrupt) property tax system (something The Star has repeatedly refused to discuss). So I really don’t care much if you want to jump on the bandwagon and critique Sam, but there are some points where your blinders have caused you to go astray.

For instance, it is a fact that Senators like Jim Denning and Greg Smith supported a repeal of the LLC exemption and got it to where it could have passed had it not been for a coalition of so-called “moderate” Republicans (most of whom are Star endorsees) and Democrats who joined forces to maintain the exemption. Please fact check me.

Secondly, you ignore a major scandal of Kathleen’s regime that was exposed in a series of articles and columns in the Lawrence Journal World in which she exhibited her own screw the poor mentality on behalf of her KCMO benefactors.

The essence of the scandal (as described by the JW) was the attempt to remove certain profit centers with their associated med school training opportunities and move them to hospitals on the Missouri side. During the course of what might have been a fait accompli had it not been for the JW’s reporting Sebelius was denounced for scheduling illegal meetings and several other underhanded tactics resulting in the departure of the hospital from the administrator who had single-handedly brought KU Med back from the brink of bankruptcy and turned it into a very profitable community asset.

Has she succeeded, the citizens of Wyandotte County would have lost several important medical programs and the citizens of Kansas would have been stuck with maintaining the remaining unprofitable programs. Kudos to Dolph Simons and real journalism for saving the day.

I also found some of the comments below those articles intriguing. Some referred to her as “Governor Roundheels” and another claimed that “our Kansas Governor is a Missouri whore.” Presumably these folks were Democrats since they also critiqued her for giving political preference to turncoat Republicans over seasoned Democrats.

I personally thought we might get a respite from the corruption of the Bond/Graves (again covered very professionally by the JW team of Dave Ranney and Scott Rothschild) regime when Kathleen took over, but clearly she anticipated the offer and sucked from day one.

We could also discuss her emulation of Blago’s appointment techniques by examining her degrading of the Kansas courts with a collection of cronies, major donors and political hacks (leading me to refer to her as Kathleen Sebeljevich), but that can wait for another day since no one in the press got around to examining that facet of her administration either.

As to the suggestions for bands to insult the patrons that come out to hear them i believe Kathleen and her husband came out at least one time when we were either playing Uncle Bo’s in Topeka, or Knuckleheads, but it would never have occurred to any of us to insult a patron who had come to hear us. We were paid to entertain, not engage in inappropriate conversations with the bar’s customers.